HONG KONG, Oct 9, 2008 (AFP) - The Hong Kong Monetary Authority on Thursday cut its key interest rate by 50 basis points following similar moves by central banks across the world.

The city's de facto central bank made the move after announcing Wednesday it would change the formula for calculating its rate, effectively already lowering it by 100 basis points.

With the two moves, the base rate was lowered to 2.0 percent on Thursday from 3.5 percent, as the HKMA tried to ease the pressure on banks caught up in the credit crunch.